1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for evaluating data that are generated with magnetic resonance technology and contain spectroscopic information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been utilized for more than four decades in physical, chemical and biochemical basic research, for example as an analysis technique or for structural identification of complex molecules. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, just like magnetic resonance tomography is based on the principle of nuclear magnetic resonance. The primary objective of spectroscopy, however, is not imaging but an analysis of a substance. Resonant frequencies of isotopes that have a magnetic moment, for example 1H, 13C or 31P, are dependent on a chemical structure of molecules wherein said isotopes are bonded. A determination of the resonant frequencies therefore allows a differentiation to be made between various substances. The signal intensity at the various resonant frequencies provides information about a concentration of the corresponding molecules.
When a molecule is introduced into a basic magnetic field of a magnetic resonance apparatus, as occurs in spectroscopy, electrons of the molecule shield the basic magnetic field for atomic nuclei of the molecule. As a result of this effect, the local magnetic field changes at the location of an atomic nucleus by a few millionths of the external basic magnetic field. The variation of the resonant frequency of this atomic nucleus associated therewith is referred to as chemical shift. Molecules can thus be identified on the basis of their chemical shift. Since frequency differences can be more simply and exactly acquired by measurement than absolute frequencies, the chemical shift is indicated relative to a reference signal, for example the operating frequency of the magnetic resonance apparatus, being indicated in PPM.
A resonance line of an atomic nucleus can be split into a number of lines when further atomic nuclei having a magnetic moment are located in the environment of the atomic nucleus being observed. This is due to a the spinxe2x80x94spin coupling between the atomic nuclei. The magnetic flux density of the basic magnetic field that an atomic nucleus experiences is thus not only dependent on the electron sheath around this atomic nucleus but also is dependent on the orientation of the magnetic fields of the neighboring atoms.
Clinical magnetic resonance spectroscopy using a clinical magnetic resonance spectroscopy upon employment of clinical magnetic resonance apparatus. The methods of localized magnetic resonance spectroscopy differ from those of magnetic resonance imaging essentially by the chemical shift also being resolved by spectroscopy in addition to the tomographic topical resolution. Currently, two localization methods of magnetic resonance spectroscopy dominate in the clinical application. These are single-volume techniques based on echo methods wherein a spectrum of a previously selected target volume is registered. Also, there are spectroscopic imaging methods, referred to as CSI (Chemical Shift Imaging) methods that simultaneously enable the registration of spectra of many spatially interconnected target volumes.
Spectroscopy examination methods are employed in clinical phosphorous spectroscopy as well as in proton spectroscopy. A three dimensional CSI method includes, for example, the following steps. After a non-slice-selected 90xc2x0 RF pulse, a combination of magnetic phase coding gradients in the three spatial directions is activated for a defined time and the magnetic resonance signal is subsequently read out in the absence of gradients. This is repeated with other combinations of phase coding gradients until the desired topical resolution has been achieved. A four-dimensional Fourier transformation of the magnetic resonance signals supplies the desired spatial distribution of the resonance lines. A two-dimensional CSI method is similar to the three-dimensional set forth above but the said non-slice-selected RL pulse is replaced by a slice-selective excitation composed of slice-selected RF pulse and corresponding magnetic gradient, and a phase coding direction gradient is eliminated.
The single-volume techniques that are usually applied are based on an acquisition of a stimulated echo or of a secondary spin echo. In both instances, a topical resolution ensues by means of successive, selective excitations of three orthogonal slices. A target volume is defined by a section volume of the aforementioned three slices. Only the dipoles of the target volume experience all three selected RF pulses and thus contribute to the stimulated echo or secondary spin echo. The spectrum of the target volume is obtained by one-dimensional Fourier transformation of a time signal corresponding to the stimulated echo or to the secondary spin echo.
In clinical proton spectroscopy, the intense water signals are often suppressed. A known method for water suppression is, for example, the CHESS technique wherein the nuclear spins of the water molecules are first selectively excited with narrow-band 90xc2x0 RF pulses and their cross-magnetization is subsequently dephased by activating magnetic field gradients. In the ideal case, no detectable magnetization of the water molecules is then available for a spectroscopy method that follows immediately thereupon.
For a prescribable volume to be investigated, for example, a magnetic resonance signal is generated with one of the methods described above, this being registered in the time domain and being converted by a Fourier transformation into an appertaining spectrum, whereby, for example, a real tart or an amount of the spectrum is represented. The spectrum is characterized by resonance lines that are also referred to as spikes. These resonance lines or spikes usually appear in the form of narrow, bell-shaped curves. Each of the resonant lines or spikes can thereby have a maximum amplitude value allocated to it, this in turn defining an appertaining frequency value of the resonance line that is characteristic of the resonance line, and thus of a very specific magnetic resonance signal-generating substance contained in the volume. Further, an integral value for one of the resonance lines or spikes in an absorption spectrum provides information about which concentration the appertaining substance has in the volume under examination. Further, what is referred to as a half-width value can be allocated to each of the resonance line or spikes. The half-width value of a resonance line is the width in the direction of the frequency axis that the resonance line has at half its maximum amplitude value.
The ultimate goal of an evaluation of a spectrum is to identify substances contained in the volume under examination on the basis of the resonance lines and to identify their concentration within the volume. The aforementioned information should be acquired insofar as possible in a fully automatic evaluation method and should be made available to an observer of the spectrum, for example a diagnostic physician, for further interpretation. The evaluation of, in particular, clinical in vivo magnetic resonance spectra has to goal of freeing the spectrum or the time signal thereof of diverse artifacts such as frequency shifts, phase shifts and baseline distortions. Following thereafter for identification and quantification of the substances contained in the volume under examination, a fitting of theoretical curves to the spectrum or to the appertaining time signal thereof is undertaken.
There are various evaluation methods available wherein, however, specific typical spectral properties are assumed to exist dependent on different volumes to be examined, for example different anatomical regions, and/or start parameters of the evaluation method prescribed by the operator. For example, the article by K. Young et al, xe2x80x9cAutomated Spectral Analysis II: Application of Wavelet Shrinkage for Characterization of Non-Parameterized Signalsxe2x80x9d, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 40 (1998), pages 816-821, describes an evaluation method wherein a parametric model for spectral components of interest is combined with a non-parametric description of unknown spectral components. The evaluation thereby has access, given a volume of a brain to be examined, to spikes of metabolites that are generally conspicuous in spectra of brains in combination with assumed, relative concentrations of the metabolites.
When the aforementioned evaluation methods are confronted, for example, with spectra that are atypical with respect to the substances generating the conspicuous spikes, then the evaluation leads to completely incorrect results or to an abort without a result. This particularly occurs in clinical magnetic resonance spectroscopy given spectra of anatomical regions that contain pathological tissue because the substances contained in the pathological tissue vary greatly from case to case.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved method for evaluating data that are generated with a magnetic resonance technique and contain spectrographic information, which among other things, is able to supply a dependable result independently of the most divergent volumes to be examined.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention in a method for evaluating data that are generated by means of a magnetic resonance technique and that contain spectroscopic information wherein at least two spikes of a spectrum of the data are detected, the positions that the detected spikes exhibit relative to one another within the spectrum are compared to spikes of known substances, and known substances are allocated to the detected spikes given a coincidence of the comparison.
Because the invention foregoes any and all assumptions with respect to substances and their properties contained in a volume under examination, the method also functions given an absence of substances that are normally present and/or given the presence of substances not normally expected within the volume under consideration, error-free and not aborting. The method is based on recognition that the relative position of at least two spikes detected in the spectrum relative to one anotherxe2x80x94despite the initially described artifactsxe2x80x94allows a reliable allocation of known substances to the detected spikes by means of a comparison to spikes of known substances. Proceeding therefrom, further properties of the spikes that have already been detected and allocated and start parameters for further methods for the detection, allocation and analysis of further spikes can be acquired, so that the individual evaluation steps can sequence quasi-universally and fully automatically and lead to dependable results. The method, among other things, can be applied in a clinical routine. The medical interpretation is simplified and misjudgments due to incorrect spectral interpretations are avoided. Moreover, the spectrum is discarded if an impossible detection of at least two spikes occur and/or an impossible allocation is indicated. When evaluating CSI data, further, cross-information from neighboring voxels can also enter into the method.